Second man charged in Erie homicide

Wednesday

Police accuse him of being involved in the fatal shooting of a city man on Jan. 7.

Erie police have charged a Beaver County man as the second suspect in the fatal shooting of an Erie man at a westside apartment house earlier this month.

Louis H. Rauch, 38, of Aliquippa, is charged with criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, robbery, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering in the fatal shooting of Jeffrey Miller inside Miller's apartment at 429 Chestnut St. on the evening of Jan. 7.

Rauch was brought to Erie from Ashtabula County, Ohio, on Tuesday afternoon by Erie Bureau of Police officers. Rauch was arraigned by Erie 1st Ward District Judge Sue Mack and was placed in the Erie County Prison without bond.

Rauch is charged along with 34-year-old Albion resident Nicholas A. Raines in the death of Miller, who died of a gunshot wound to the chest after he was shot in his apartment. Witness information, a tip from the Millcreek Township Police Department and surveillance video helped police identify Raines as a suspect, according to information in the criminal complaint against Raines. He remains in the Erie County Prison without bond on homicide and other charges following his Jan. 11 arraignment.

Detectives had been working since the shooting to identify the man who was inside the apartment with Raines, and who was captured on surveillance video from security cameras at the apartment. Video also captured images of the suspects exiting a Hyundai Elantra, Erie police Detective Sean Bogart and Detective Ronald Pilarski wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with Rauch's criminal complaint.

Images of the unknown man and the vehicle were released to the news media, and police received multiple tips from people who identified the man as Rauch, according to the affidavit. Investigators confirmed on Jan. 8 that Rauch was a patient at Millcreek Community Hospital and police made contact with him on Jan. 11. While patrol officers brought Rauch to the Erie police station he made a spontaneous utterance about being a witness to a homicide, Bogart and Pilarski wrote in the affidavit.

Investigators learned from a relative of Rauch that Rauch was in Ohio but left his car, a Hyundai Elantra, at Millcreek Community Hospital. The car matched the Hyundai Elantra seen in surveillance video from Chestnut Street and was registered to Rauch's wife, according to the affidavit.

Detectives spoke to a person who stated that Rauch talked to the person about the first murder of the year and stated he was involved in 11 home invasions on Jan. 7. The person said Rauch also stated that during the 11th home invasion the victim resisted and his buddy shot the victim, detectives wrote in the affidavit. Rauch told the person the reason for the robbery was to take methamphetamine from the victim. Rauch said he didn't shoot the victim but was there, and he stated that the victim's blood was on his jacket, according to the affidavit.

In addition to the homicide, Raines is charged by Erie police with committing an armed home-invasion robbery at a residence in the 2200 block of Liberty Street earlier in the evening of Jan. 7.

Detectives working the homicide case are also working to identify a third person who reportedly drove the Hyundai Elantra to the Chestnut Street apartment house on the night of the shooting. Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny issued an appeal on Thursday for that individual to come forward to talk to detectives and provide that person's story of what happened that night.

That individual had not contacted Erie police as Tuesday afternoon.

"The Rauch arrest moves us closer to completing the full investigation," Spizarny said. "It's not over until we have identified all three people. We now have two and we're working on the last one."

Tim Hahn can be reached at 870-1731 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNhahn.

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